1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an actuator arm gate opener for controlled swinging gates, specifically to gate hinges that lift the gate as the gate swings open.
Gates have been in use since before recorded history for both functional and aesthetic purposes in providing selected access. Most gates swing from a vertical post between an open and closed position. Gate hinges have been made available for attaining lift as a way to clear the rising path of contouring terrain immediately adjacent the gate. In prior art, hinges provide for only a small lift and do not allow for site conditions where the terrain steeply rises adjacent the gate. Until now the only available gates that can accommodate steep and/or snow site conditions are barrier gates that vertically rise above the path way and sliding gates that roll laterally in and out of the path way. In residential installations vertically lifting barrier gates and sliding gates are not aesthetically pleasing nor are they as practical to install as the traditional swinging gate.
A rear view of a prior art non-lifting gate is illustrated in FIG. 1 (rear view gate closed). The gate 110 is composed of a barrier element 112 attached to the top bracket 118 and the bottom bracket 122. The bearings 124 attach to the top hinge support 116 and the bottom hinge support 120. The hinge supports attach to the column 114. The prior art gate 110 is limited to opening and closing through a horizontal path. The prior art gate 110 is not effective in applications where the location of the gate is in uneven terrain such as sloped driveways and where obstacles such as snow will be present to obstruct the path of the gate.
Several different approaches to lifting a swinging gate include U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,543 to Carr (1987) which shows a complex hinge system that swings while a lifting cylinder lifts the gate simultaneously. This is an overly expensive and complex solution to a high lift swinging gate, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,344 to Skeem which uses a hydraulic lifting drum and sliding hinge pins to accomplish the same.
Although prior art does provide for different types of lifting hinges that utilize a rearward inclination of the top and bottom hinge axes to achieve lift during the opening rotation of the gate hinge. These gate hinges require proportionally more force to open the gate as the lift or rearward inclination of the hinge is increased. Examples of these lifting hinges include U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,708 to Bonar (1978) where a rearward inclination of gate hinge axes is on the side of the post and U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,717 to Longo (1997) where the same inclination of hinge axes is located at the back of the post, with a hinge rod and an impractical series of clamps and bolts to allow for limited adjustment of an additional skewing of the hinge axes to keep the gate from leaning back as it rotates and lifts.
All the lifting hinges utilizing rearward inclination of axes as cited above were not commercially successful and the heretofore known prior art suffers from a number of disadvantages: the higher the lift or rearward inclination of the hinge axes, the more force required to open the gate; the force to open and lift the gate is large enough to require that only smaller gates be used; once the gate is open there is always a danger that it can slam shut, the prior art has no counterbalancing of gate when it is open; gates that need to be lifted high have no commercially available openers that can track the geometry of the rising gate; low and high lift gates must be heavily made and structurally reinforced at the point of attachment of the gate opener to withstand the strong pull of the gate opener; gates don""t initially lift as quickly as possible because the hinge geometry is not optimized; and the aesthetically unpleasing actuator must be located at the front or rear of the hinge bearing column to operate the gate.
The present invention relates generally to gate hinges, with a preset mounting for gate opening operators, and pertains more specifically to a gate hinge which enables high lifting of the gate to compensation for snow on the ground and/or for the contour of the terrain at the site of the gate to mechanically lift the gate to follow the contour immediately adjacent the gate for appropriate fit with respect to the ground during the operation of the gate.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a gate hinge, which takes into account steeply sloping contour of the terrain and/or snow in the vicinity of the gate and, attains several objects and advantages, some of which are summarized as follows:
Enables compensation for a steeply sloping contour and/or snow immediately adjacent to the gate to assure that the gate follows the steeply sloping contour as the gate swings between a closed position and an open position by using a counterbalance to negate the high turning force associated with lifting a gate at a high rate. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
The disclosed device is directed toward a lifting gate. The lifting gate comprises a barrier member having a top and a bottom opposite thereof. A top bracket assembly is coupled to the top of the barrier member. The top bracket assembly includes a top bearing coupled to a top bracket and a top hinge support coupled to the top bearing. A bottom bracket is coupled to the bottom of the barrier member, having a body defined by a first bracket end and a second bracket end and a central bracket portion between the first and second bracket ends. The bottom bracket is coupled to the bottom of the barrier member proximate to the first bracket end. A bottom bearing is coupled to the bottom bracket proximate to the central bracket portion. A bottom hinge support has a first support end and a second support end opposite thereof, and a central support portion between the first and second support ends. The bottom hinge support is coupled to the bottom bearing proximate to the central support portion. A connecting rod is coupled between the top bearing and the bottom bearing. A gate opener has a first opener end and a second opener end opposite thereof. The gate opener is coupled to the bottom hinge support and the gate opener is coupled to the bottom bracket. The lifting gate also includes a biasing member coupled to the bottom hinge support and coupled to the bottom bracket.
In another embodiment of the lifting gate the first opener end of the gate opener is coupled to the bottom hinge support at a gate opener swivel joint located proximate to the second support end. The second opener end of the gate opener is coupled to the bracket mount located on the bottom bracket between the central bracket portion and the first bracket end. The biasing member includes a first end and a second end opposite thereof. The first end of the biasing member is coupled to the bottom hinge support proximate to the second support end and the second end of the biasing member is coupled to the bottom bracket proximate to the second bracket end.
Yet another embodiment of the lifting gate includes having the first opener end of the gate opener coupled to the bottom hinge support at a gate opener swivel joint located proximate to the second support end. The second opener end of the gate opener is coupled to a bracket mount located on the bottom bracket between the central bracket portion and the first bracket end. The first end of the biasing member is coupled to the bottom hinge support proximate to the gate opener swivel joint located proximate to the second support end. The second end of the biasing member is coupled proximate to the bracket mount located on the bottom bracket between the central bracket portion and the first bracket end.
Still another embodiment of the lifting gate includes having the first opener end of the gate opener coupled to the bottom hinge support at a gate opener swivel joint located proximate to the second support end. The second opener end of the gate opener is coupled to a bracket mount located on the bottom bracket between the central bracket portion and the first bracket end. The first end of the biasing member is coupled to the bottom hinge support proximate to the second support end and the second end of the biasing member is coupled at the bracket mount located on the bottom bracket between the central bracket portion and the first bracket end.
Another embodiment of the lifting gate includes having the first opener end of the gate opener coupled to the bottom hinge support at a gate opener swivel joint located proximate to the second support end. The second opener end of the gate opener is coupled to a gate swivel joint located on the bottom bracket proximate to the second bracket end. The first end of the biasing member is coupled to the bottom hinge support proximate to the second support end. The second end of the biasing member is coupled to the bottom bracket between the central bracket portion and the first bracket end.
A further embodiment of the lifting gate includes having the first opener end of the gate opener coupled to the bottom hinge support at a gate opener swivel joint located proximate to the second support end. The second opener end of the gate opener is coupled to a gate swivel joint located on the bottom bracket proximate to the second bracket end. The biasing member is a compression biasing member. The first end of the compression biasing member is coupled to the bottom hinge support proximate to the second support end. The second end of the compression biasing member is coupled to the bottom bracket between the central bracket portion and the first bracket end.